Pa. counties expect more voters, order machines

Wednesday

Sep 24, 2008 at 8:45 PM

HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania counties are responding to large numbers of new voter registrations and requests for absentee ballots by buying and leasing additional voting machines to ensure they can accommodate expected heavy voter turnout on Nov. 4.

PETER JACKSON

HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania counties are responding to large numbers of new voter registrations and requests for absentee ballots by buying and leasing additional voting machines to ensure they can accommodate expected heavy voter turnout on Nov. 4.

Cumberland County, southwest of Harrisburg, is buying 49 machines to augment its existing inventory of 623. Registration drives at college campuses in the county have helped propel a disproportionate surge in registrations among young people.

"If there's a (college) student in Cumberland County who hasn't registered, I don't know where that student is," said Penny Brown, head of elections and voter registration in Cumberland County, which is home to Dickinson College and Shippensburg University.

Joseph Passarella, Montgomery County's director of voter services, said it is important to avoid forcing voters to wait in long lines on Election Day. He noted that federal money is available to help pay for the extra machines.

Delaware County purchased 910 touchscreen machines that were first used in the 2006 primary, and officials there believe those will be adequate for the general election.

"We anticipated a growing need when we got them," county spokeswoman Tricia Cofiell said Wednesday.

Philadelphia also does not plan to obtain more machines, but could deploy more of them than usual.

"We have an extra 300 on hand" in the existing inventory, said Rich Vito, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Board of Elections.

In the Pocono Mountains, Monroe County has a lease-purchase agreement for 16 machines to supplement its inventory of 150, said Sara May-Silfee, the director of voter registration and elections.

"The biggest problem is the books" that every voter must sign before casting a ballot, creating bottlenecks at many polling places, she said.

Allegheny County is counting on its present inventory to handle the general-election balloting, although elections manager Mark Wolosik said officials plan to have nearly 4,500 machines operating on Election Day - 165 more than in the April primary.

"We could even add to that" without having to buy additional machines, Wolosik said.